I can confirm this error!  This is very annoying, and seems to be a dvd-slideshow error see here:  http://dvd-slideshow.sourceforge.net/wiki/Changelog_0.8.1

Please Please Please get the 8.1 version into the repos as soon as it is released.  I think this will fix the problem.  

Here is my error:

dvd-slideshow -smp -L -r -border 100 -n testing -o tested/ -f testing.txt
[dvd-slideshow]            dvd-slideshow 0.8.0
[dvd-slideshow]            Licensed under the GNU GPL
[dvd-slideshow]            Copyright 2003-2006 by Scott Dylewski
[dvd-slideshow]            
[dvd-slideshow] Parsing input file testing.txt
[dvd-slideshow] ###########################################################
[dvd-slideshow] Found 9 images.
[dvd-slideshow] Found 0 audio files.
[dvd-slideshow] Found 1 background slides.
[dvd-slideshow] Found 0 title slides.
[dvd-slideshow] Found 10 transitions (fadein/fadeout/crossfade/wipe).
[dvd-slideshow] Video: NTSC 720x480 29.97fps 4:3
[dvd-slideshow] Audio: AC3 48000 192
[dvd-slideshow] Debug=0  Autocrop=1 Subtitles=dvd Border=100
[dvd-slideshow] Using SMP optimizations for multi-processor machines
[dvd-slideshow] Title_font=...r/share/fonts/type1/gsfonts/n019004l.pfb
[dvd-slideshow] Subtitle_font=...r/share/fonts/type1/gsfonts/n019004l.pfb
[dvd-slideshow] Total audio length = 
[dvd-slideshow] Total video length = 0:0:29.000
[dvd-slideshow] WARNING: Using low-quality mode.
[dvd-slideshow]   This mode is for testing only.
[dvd-slideshow]   output resolution is 720x480
[dvd-slideshow]   Ignore [mpeg2enc] warnings (usually)
[dvd-slideshow] Temp dir is tested/dvd-slideshow_temp_29730
[dvd-slideshow] Creating black background
[dvd-slideshow]############################################################
[dvd-slideshow] Creating black background
[dvd-slideshow]############################################################
[dvd-slideshow] Applying Fadein to next image 0:0:1.000
[dvd-slideshow]#######################################################xargs: cat: terminated by signal 13

[dvd-slideshow] 1/9 ...ase/FurloughPresentation/Final/00001.jpg 0:0:3.000
[dvd-slideshow]############################################################
[dvd-slideshow] Applying Crossfade between images 0:0:1.000
[dvd-slideshow]#######################################################xargs: cat: terminated by signal 13

[dvd-slideshow] 2/9 ...ase/FurloughPresentation/Final/00002.jpg 0:0:3.000
[dvd-slideshow]############################################################
[dvd-slideshow] Applying Crossfade between images 0:0:1.000
[dvd-slideshow]#######################################################xargs: cat: terminated by signal 13

[dvd-slideshow] 3/9 ...ase/FurloughPresentation/Final/00003.jpg 0:0:3.000
[dvd-slideshow]############################################################
[dvd-slideshow] Applying Crossfade between images 0:0:1.000
[dvd-slideshow]#######################################################xargs: cat: terminated by signal 13

[dvd-slideshow] 4/9 ...ase/FurloughPresentation/Final/00004.jpg 0:0:3.000
[dvd-slideshow]############################################################
[dvd-slideshow] Applying Crossfade between images 0:0:1.000
[dvd-slideshow]#######################################################xargs: cat: terminated by signal 13

[dvd-slideshow] 5/9 ...ase/FurloughPresentation/Final/00005.jpg 0:0:3.000
[dvd-slideshow]############################################################
[dvd-slideshow] Applying Crossfade between images 0:0:1.000
[dvd-slideshow]#######################################################xargs: cat: terminated by signal 13

[dvd-slideshow] 6/9 ...ase/FurloughPresentation/Final/00006.jpg 0:0:3.000
[dvd-slideshow]############################################################
[dvd-slideshow] Applying Crossfade between images 0:0:1.000
[dvd-slideshow]#######################################################xargs: cat: terminated by signal 13

[dvd-slideshow] 7/9 ...ase/FurloughPresentation/Final/00007.jpg 0:0:3.000
[dvd-slideshow]############################################################
[dvd-slideshow] Applying Crossfade between images 0:0:1.000
[dvd-slideshow]#######################################################xargs: cat: terminated by signal 13

[dvd-slideshow] 8/9 ...ase/FurloughPresentation/Final/00008.jpg 0:0:3.000
[dvd-slideshow]############################################################
[dvd-slideshow] Applying Crossfade between images 0:0:1.000
[dvd-slideshow]#######################################################xargs: cat: terminated by signal 13

[dvd-slideshow] 9/9 ...ase/FurloughPresentation/Final/00009.jpg 0:0:3.000
[dvd-slideshow]############################################################
[dvd-slideshow] Doing fadeOUT to background....
[dvd-slideshow] Applying Fadeout to previous image 0:0:1.000
[dvd-slideshow]#######################################################xargs: cat: terminated by signal 13

[dvd-slideshow] background 0:0:2.000
[dvd-slideshow] Displaying background black
[dvd-slideshow]############################################################
[dvd-slideshow] waiting for encoder to finish...
[dvd-slideshow]#####################################
[dvd-slideshow] No audio files passed.  Using 0:0:29.000 silence.
[dvd-slideshow] Working on track 1 audio file 0
[dvd-slideshow] silence
[dvd-slideshow] Creating silence audio file for 0:0:29.000
[dvd-slideshow] This audio plays in slideshow from 0:0:0.000 to 0:0:29.000
[dvd-slideshow] ###############
[dvd-slideshow] Creating ac3 audio...
[dvd-slideshow] ERROR during ffmpeg execution!
[dvd-slideshow] see tested/dvd-slideshow.log for details
[dvd-slideshow] cleanup...

I just ran this as a test file, to see what was going on.  This will render ManDVD QdvdAuthor not to work, because they work through dvd-slideshow.  I too am using Intrepid 8.10 up to date the 64 bit version.  

Shane